Our green-tinged deadline

Some are getting a St. Patrick's Day holiday, others await Sheilagh's Brush. At the NQ office we're 24 and 1/2 hours from our file-to-printers deadline. With some hard work and a bit of luck, possibly Irish, we should just make it.

(Image - of shortbread 'shamrock' cookies, in case you were wondering - photobucket.com.)

Cover >>> press

The first thing we usually send to press is the cover; having that proofed and in production is an early goal of NQ design. We're trying something new this time - well, we try something new every time - but this imagery is animated and elegant and if you've been to The Rooms recently you've seen it and that's enough hints for now. Real thing coming your way April 2. in the meantime, here's an intriguing survey of some controversial magazine covers.

(Image: b-muse.com.covergirls.)

Let's edit!

Time to focus on editing, a process that includes writing the editorial. A unique skill - as you can see from the most famous editorial ever written - so we'll need to gather our thoughts and red pens together and hunker down.

(Image: shutterstock.com.)

Well, we sort of know where everything is...

On the cusp of our copy & ad deadlines, at this point the NQ storyboard is a neatly written series of titles and bylines, supplemented by notations in colour-coded highlighters and an ever-growing array of post-its marked in a bewildering shorthand that made sense at the time. Not exactly Office Organization 1001, but it seems to work, reflecting the living, growing thing that is the magazine.

(Image: wagonized.typepad.cpm.)

Production ahead

One week and one day to copy deadline...and we've already got some lovely stuff together. Pretty pictures, too, and one or two ideas for the cover...Note to self, remember the proper USB code this time, and avoid last minute panic!

(Image: lightmix.com.)

NQ pluses and minuses

This week the NQ has to focus on some numbers - budget numbers, printing numbers, logistical details that need to be squared away so we can block out story lists and copy deadlines for 2012. Our production infrastructure, if you will.

(Image: wikimedia.)

Spring storyboard checklist

Our "Fauna" issue is really taking to the air, with one very fine feature (about a certain famous introduced species) already proofed and filed, and a number of essays, articles and columns in the queue (including one about a strange beast of a movie shot here in the 70s).

(Image: thesharkguys.com.)